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Draper@Home Newsletter

Issue 8 – June 2016

#TheBuzz

Modern Interior Design with AeroLift Projector Lift

A major redesign of Draper’s AeroLift projector lifts means they can now hold heavier projectors, and also means a name change. The range will now include the AeroLift 35, AeroLift 100, and AeroLift 150, capable of lifting projectors up to 35, 100, and 150 pounds, respectively.

Despite the increased weight capacity, the AeroLift is still perfect for recessing projectors in small spacers. The AeroLift 35 is still the smallest lift on the market, collapsing to 4 inches when closed (minus the projector and closure, of course)! Soon, all three models will be UL listed. They, along with our Scissor Lift, will be the only lift models certified to the new UL 2442 and CSA C22.2 No. 60065-03 standards. Testing is being wrapped up and we hope to begin labeling soon.

Because of its small size, the AeroLift 35 makes the perfect companion to the Access FIT projection screens. The Access FIT features a much smaller case cross section for above ceiling motorized screen applications. Despite being only 5-11/16” high, the Access FIT uses the same quality components as our standard Access, but engineered into a smaller profile to fit into tight spaces above the ceiling. Perfect for that basement ceiling or the corporate boardroom with HVAC or sprinkler systems making the install tight.

In fact, just as we were introducing the FIT to the market, a situation came up that perfectly outlines its advantages. Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, was installing a bunch of Access screens. But when the installer got into a couple of the rooms, they found that there wasn’t enough space above the ceilings. They were going to have to switch screens. Luckily, the first Access FIT cases were just rolling off the line, so we were able to trade them out and they worked perfectly! (You can read a nifty case study about it here.) (http://www.draperinc.com/education/accessfit_earlham_cs.aspx)

#DraperTools

It happens to everyone. You get all of the parts out of the box and something comes up to distract you. By the time you return to the task, you find that you’ve mislaid the installation instructions. If you’re lucky you can get a replacement from the company or by searching the web.

Draper has an online tool just for this situation. Our Product Document Locator lets you search for installation instructions or other documents by product. And it’s very likely you’ll find what you’re looking for—it has been Draper’s policy for several years to post all of our installation instructions on our web site. That way, if you misplace them, or if we’ve forgotten them (not likely but we’re human), you can print out a new copy or simply refer to them on your computer or mobile device.

#HomeOnPearl

Towel Day is a tribute to science fiction author Douglas Adams. Adams is the creator of, among other things, the critically acclaimed series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and each year fans celebrate Towel Day on May 25. Towel Day started in 2001, two weeks after Adams’ death.

The origin of this tribute can be found in a passage from Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide:

“A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you—daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

There’s a Towel Day video game. An International Vogon Poetry Slam went down in Tallahassee, Florida. Events by fans took place in Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Mexico—pretty much all over the world. In 2015, an astronaut sent a Towel Day greeting from the International Space Station and read a snippet from The Hitchhiker’s Guide. There’s even a Towel Day ambassador. This year, Lisa Orozco won the right to represent Earth in that role.

So, does Towel Day sound like your cup of tea, or are you scratching your head right now, wondering about the future of humanity?

Look at it this way. In every area of our lives, there are things to which we are passionately devoted, but which others don’t understand. We get into odd hobbies with arcane language and rules. We follow hopelessly complicated sports. We collect items with a dodgy provenance, carefully labeling and cataloging while telling ourselves that our collection is now the greatest.

The same thing happens in business. Whatever you’re making or selling, a cloud of specialist terminology, complex rules, and probably unnecessary practices builds up until an outsider (read: future customer) can’t understand how or even why to properly purchase and use your product.

I think this happens in every industry in which Draper is involved, but especially the AV industry. UHD. 4K. 8K. Viewing angles. Ambient Light Rejection. Etc.

Which is why Draper works so hard to come up with tools like the Projection Planner to make the job of picking the right screen for your room that much easier, even as that choice is a more scientific one. It’s why we work with our dealers and installers to make improvements in products and processes. And it’s why our inside sales, technical, and customer service staff bend over backwards to make sure our customers understand what’s going on, and that their experience will be a positive one.

I guess you could say Draper is your metaphorical towel—there to help when there’s a problem, and to make our dealers and customers look good when its crunch time and the AV equipment needs to work.

So let Draper make you look like a hoopy frood to everyone around you!

#DraperSocial

In this month’s social media corner, we’re talking CEDIA. Yes, I know we’ve just gotten through InfoComm, but September 15 will be here before you know it!

In advance of the show, be sure you’re following @DraperAV on Twitter. Terry Coffey, who manages this handle, is one the ten #CEDIATweeps again this year, promoting CEDIA and sharing news not only about Draper’s presence but overall show info as well. Since Terry is one of the #CEDIATweeps, if you use the code DraperAV16 when you register you’ll get a free show pass—that’s a $250 value for non-CEDIA members. Also, follow the hashtag #CEDIATweeps on Twitter. All of the Tweeps will be posting show info there.

You can also download a free CEDIA app to help you with your show planning.

For more information on the app, registration, and everything else CEDIA, click here. (http://expo.cedia.net/home)